Morning Brief – October 28, 2011

Is the money there or not? Confusion abounds over federal funding for an Edmonton museum — Good economic news from Europe and the U.S. have markets over the moon — Twitter is every public servant’s friend, says Clement — Romney’s voter appeal doesn’t include Republicans — And in case you couldn’t stay up, the Cards won Game 6.

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Good morning to you. It’s Friday!

The rhetoric at times bordered on the rude. “Stephen Harper dumps the RAM: A Tale of Treachery and Bad Manners,” screamed a headline over an Edmonton Journal blog. “This is unconscionable,” fumed Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel. The subject of their wrath? According to Alberta Infrastructure Minister Jeff Johnson, it was the withdrawal of $92 million in federal funding for Edmonton’s new $340-million Royal Alberta Museum. There is only one problem: The feds insist they never promised $92 million for the project, and the paper trail seems to suggest that’s the case. What was promised for the museum was $30 million by the Paul Martin Liberals in 2005. That money is still on the table, Edmonton’s cabinet minister, Rona Ambrose, told the Commons Thursday. Needless to say, much confusion abounds. Journal columnist Paula Simons identifies what has transpired as a political catfight amongst people who are supposed to be of similar ideological bent. Provincial MLAs say the money was promised. Federal MPs say it was never even asked for. Simons says both sides are being disingenuous. It could take months to sort out. In the meantime, the museum project has been mothballed indefinitely.

The sort of pessimistic economic forecasts that would prompt a government to look unkindly on requests for $92 million in funding might prove premature, given more positive developments in Europe and the U.S. on Thursday. Eurozone leaders slowly seem to be coming to grips with their debt problems. More surprising at this point is the news from the States, where the economy grew by a relatively robust 2.5 per cent in the third quarter. Markets in Toronto and New York soared as a result and the Canadian dollar zoomed back past the point of parity, closing at 100.88 cents U.S. Overnight, Asian and European markets were up as well. All this good news left the Bank of Canada, whose gloomy monetary outlook earlier this week suggested the economy would barely grow over the next 15 months, acknowledging that forecast might have been overly pessimistic. It remains to be seen if further revisions are in store.

Federal public servants should be free to work from their local coffee shops with iPads at hand, says Treasury Board President Tony Clement. Moreover said Clement, in an interview with iPolitics’ Elizabeth Thompson, those public servants should be encouraged to use social media tools like Twitter and Facebook to communicate with Canadians. Clement is keen to launch a pilot project that would employ social media to consult more Canadians on government proposals and help make them part of the decision-making process. Clement, a prolific tweeter himself, said the Treasury Board will soon unveil social media guidelines for public servants. No doubt the announcement will be made over Twitter.

Polling of voters across the U.S. political spectrum shows Mitt Romney is the U.S. Republican candidate with the best chance to beat Barack Obama, yet he continues to trail other Republican contenders among the party’s supporters. At first, it was Mike Huckabee who was most favoured by Republican voters. Then it was Michele Bachmann, and later it was Rick Perry. Now, it’s pizza magnate Herman Cain. He leads the latest polling with 24 per cent support, four points more than Romney. The results must be frustrating for Romney who is viewed as the most mainstream candidate in the Republican field. (Jon Stewart calls him the frontrunner for everyone’s second choice.) If there is any good news for Romney in this latest round of polling, it’s that he leads Cain in four critical early-voting states: — Iowa, New Hampshire, Florida and South Carolina. There are eight Republicans in total vying for the presidential nomination.

On the schedule for today:

In Ottawa, the Supreme Court renders judgment in the Canadian Human Rights Commission et al versus Attorney General of Canada.

CBC News: Morning anchor Heather Hiscox receives a honourary degree from the University of Western Ontario in London.

Colombia’s energy minister meets with Calgary’s business community to discuss the recent Canada-Colombia free-trade agreement and the potential for investments in Colombia’s oil and gas sector.

International Trade Minister Ed Fast is in Vancouver to make a luncheon address to the Vancouver Board of Trade.

Featured opinions you will find today at iPolitics:

When the Conservatives had a minority government, they soft-pedalled labour issues, writes Lawrence Martin in his weekly column. Now that they have their majority and a labour-backed NDP in opposition, the Tories are moving into attack mode.

A provocative op-ed by Lee Fairbanks and Bill Tufts, co-authors of Pension Ponzi: How Public Sector Unions are Bankrupting Canada’s Health Care, Education and Your Retirement concludes that a “pension deficit tsunami” is beginning to break on our shores.

Finally, if ever there was evidence the World Series is marketed primarily to the western half of the North America, it came at 12:39 Eastern this morning when the St. Louis Cardinals finally prevailed in Game 6 with a 10-9 win over the Texas Rangers. Of course, that’s still prime time out west. The winner-take-all Game 7 goes tonight at 8PM EDT. Figure on staying up.